User Reviews

Overall Rating:

Value Rating:

Submitted by
quickxotica
a Audio Enthusiast

Date Reviewed: July 29, 2005

Bottom Line:

I agree with the post below entirely. This is the best CD player at this price point. I auditioned the Arcam 73T, Arcam 192, Rega Jupiter & Planet, Naim CD5i, NAD 542, and others before buying this X-RayV3. The closest in terms of musicality and soundstaging was the Arcam 192, but it was almost twice the price and felt cheaply made. The deciding-factor for me, in the end, was not sound... these are all good CD players and I heard no "night-and-day" differences between them... the sonic differences were subtle and subjective. Instead, it was the physical build quality of the X-Ray V3 that completely vanquished the rest from contention. For my money, I wanted a CD player than was built like a tank, had a thick resonance-free metal case, and sufficient internal isolation that the mechanical noises generated by the transport were inaudible from more than a half-meter away. Only this machine achieved that standard. All the rest produced whirring, clicking, grinding or humming sounds which could be heard from 3 meters away (ie. from the listening position), and had thin-walled metal cases that resonated ("duiiinnnng") when tapped with a finger. Not acceptable!!!! By contrast, the only time I can hear the transport inside the X-Ray V3 is if I turn an ear to the front of the box from less than 0.5 meters away (with the volume off, naturally). As a result, between songs and within quiet portions of my CDs, there is absolute perfect silence... no "click-click-click" of a spinning disk like the other machines produce. And when you strike the top of the case with a finger, there is no resonance... only a soft "thud". Cool.

I heared almost any CD at this price point and ended buying the Musical Fidelity X-Ray v3. The strongs points of this CD are so many that I strongly believe it is the best audiphile-category CD avaliable on the market at this price point.

I will not say great words about the external build quality - I think it is simply very good (not excellent) for the money. The beautiful blue LCD display and the inside electrical pattern are top class for the money.

The Sound:
From the first moment, hearing the X-Ray v3 with the X-150 amplifier combo, I was very happy that I found a company produce the finest quality CD players for the money - worthing every penny.
The strongest points of this CD are many. First of all the naturality and dynamics. Both A-class. Voices and instruments (I dare to say) are life-like. The best soundstage in the category, slightly forward. I also cannot say this CD sounds bright neither dark or warm. It sounds right. Very detailed also, with organic delicate bass ,hyper-fast, well extended. The speed is a king here. You realise what it means to be a speed-king, the music starts and stops like real-life without hurry. Also very lovely midrange and bass, liquid and sweet with the right dose of smoothness. The depth of the soundstage and the clean, realistic layers of depth (tons of them) are found in CD-Players that at least costs twice the price.

Think well before buying to combine it with the X-10 v3 as soon as possible (at least it will be the first upgrade). The combo will release a ton of lush frequencies and harmonics. Before buying take a long listen to the Musical Fidelity A5. I think its a classic and the combo of the DAC,X10,PSU will bring the sound closer to A5 than you may believe. Of course, the price of all X-series related with the X-ray source will reach the price of A5. I dare say you will get about 85 per cent of the sound of A5 (dimensionality and purity of A5 is something hard to beat). I heared that ,for some, the X-Ray combo with the rest X-10,DAC,PSU sounds better than many at the total price category.

Add a very good interconnect (like Kimber KS-1021 , KS-1011 for more relaxed presentation or SilverStreak). With SilverStreak it sounds extremly good , warm , sweet, liquid,very fast.-

Jaw-breaking. Its is silly how good it sounds. Its a high-end king for the price. You cannot leave the living room you can't stop listening all of your CDs.

It sounds so good (better than A3.2 in my opinion) and its prettier than the previous version of X-series. A gentleman with female voices, cream-sounding, astonishing with strings and acoustics guitars (also airy and open sounding), king with pianos and detailed like CD players of 3000+ Euros, all combined with perfect naturality and tonality. Plus it is fast. I found the soundstage precise with right amount of depth and deserves the title of a high-end CD player - it belongs to the category of 2000+ Euro priced players.

I prefer to combine it with ProAc loudspeakers and the X-150 amplifier, all connected with Nordost Blue Heaven speaker cable and Kimber SilverStreak interconnect. A class of its own and a king for the money. Let it run about 80 hours.

Again... jaw-breaking top-class. This originality of sound and detail plus tonal neutrality makes you jump out of the window.